The Giver (chamber opera)
I am thrilled to report that the opera played to 5 sold out houses (900 seat theater) in Kansas City. Lois Lowry joined me there for the entire production week, a very special treat for me and for everyone. Four daytime performances were for “riveted” audiences of middle and upperschoolers, and the Saturday general public audience was likewise wonderful. A special and deeply felt thank-you to Paula Winans, Director of Education and music director of The Giver, her 10 extremely dedicated orchestra musicians, her 4 marvelous professional singers, her 27 incredible LyriKids, ages 8-18 and one exceptionally talented 8-month old baby boy. Not to mention director Linda Ade Brand. You can see excerpts on The Giver page here on my site.
And here’s a useful link to my publisher’s page about it:
http://subitomusic.com/news/news_details.cfm?item=Kander20120111
Next stop for the opera is Minnesota Opera, with 7 performances at the end of April. I’ve just been out to Minneapolis where rehearsals are under way under the music direction of Dale Kruse and stage direction of Octavio Cardenas. Subito’s article on this production is at:
http://subitomusic.com/news/news_details.cfm?item=Kander20120308
And here’s a very cool thing:
Minnesota Opera is using Kickstarter to raise extra funds for their production. It’s a very neat site, only for cultural projects. Each week they’ll post a new video featuring music from the opera as well as myself and lots of others talking about the project. There are several updated posts on this page, so be sure to click on “updates” just above the screen after the first video.
Postcards from America (oboe and piano)
The CD, by commissioner Michele Fiala, has had a lovely review in the online magazine Audiophile Audition.
“Postcards from America by Susan Kander is a very clever work that also seeks its inspiration from feelings…. [It is] a most interesting work, is quite effective and to Kander’s credit, does avoid any traps of clichéd writing.”
For the whole review of this cd full of nifty new music for various double reeds:
http://audaud.com/2012/03/overheard-new-music-for-oboe-and-english-horn-michele-fiala-msr-classics/